Issues in Public and Nonprofit Administration

The Affordable Care Act, How it Affects You, and How to Trump It

It would be an understatement to say that health insurance is a big issue in government decisions and policies today. I think most people would accept that health insurance is the largest issue that is going on presently. The Affordable Care Act was signed by President Obama in 2010 and it began slowly making changes in the way that health insurance and the health care system of the United States works. The Affordable Care Act is also known as Obamacare because it was proposed and backed by former President Obama. According to an article posted by Supreme Court Debates (2014) on the cons of Obamacare the Affordable Care Act is the law that set new “minimum acceptable level of care provided by health insurance companies.” The Affordable Care Act has made some major changes in health insurance such as allowing adults to stay on their parents health insurance regardless of student status or marital status until the age of 26, forbidding health insurance companies to deny the proposed insured coverage due to pre-existing conditions, and requiring all citizens to have Obamacare compliant health insurance policies on themselves and all of their dependents. If a person does not have health insurance then he or she is subject to pay a penalty at the end of the year when income taxes are filed. On the surface, it seems that Obamacare provides great benefits for the American people, but when you look deeper into this law you see that these “great benefits” are being paid for with the American tax payer’s dollar and seems to be rewarding those deliberately lacking motivation while emptying the wallets of those that are working hard for their dollars. All of these benefits sound great until you are reminded that there is no such thing as a free lunch and that someone is paying for the “free and low cost” benefits that others are receiving. Obamacare not only sets requirements for private health insurance companies, but also created the Insurance Market Place. The insurance market place is a website where people who are not provided with insurance through their employer or another source can go through the enrollment system and qualify for subsidized health insurance plans so that they are in compliance with the Affordable Care Act and will not be penalized at the end of the year. One of the biggest issues with the Affordable Care Act is that in order for these health insurance plans on the Market Place to be cheaper, the cost of insurance and deductibles for people who are not eligible for lower rates are charged sky high rates for insurance plans. President Donald J. Trump is very quickly working to repeal and replace Obamacare. President Trump has not released all of the details about what his replacement plan will consist of, but according to an article posted by NPR (2017) the replacement plan will provide insurance for everyone as does Obamacare, will result in lower premiums, and lower deductibles. According to President Trump’s website he is planning to “work with Congress to make sure that we have a series of reforms ready for implementation that follow free market principles and restore economic freedom and certainty to everyone in this Country.” President Trump is working to repeal the Affordable Care Act not only to appease the Republican party but because he believes that it will better all of society and all of the American people. Though President Trump has not released his replacement plan for when Obamacare is repealed, he has released his plan of action for beginning the repeal process and it is proving to be working thus far. According to an article posted by CNN (2017), Congress voted to begin a debate on budgets that will hopefully work towards repealing Obamacare in the near future. Though Obamacare has major flaws, the benefits and the idea behind it that everyone should have access to affordable healthcare is a very good and fair idea. I believe President Trump is working hard and is going to continue working hard to repeal Obamacare and implement new laws and policies that will still provide all citizens with affordable health care without raising the premiums and deductibles for the working class of America.

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That was the issue that I had with Obamacare. I respect his position on wanting all Americans to have health insurance available however there were many out there that were just flat out unable to afford it. Although health insurance is typically offered by a company, at times there are families that are out there struggling financially. Families that actually have to weigh the cost out of their paycheck to being able to have food until the next pay check. For one person alone, the cost could be up to $100 per check and maybe to some that doesn’t seem like much however to those that are barely staying afloat living paycheck to paycheck, that $100 makes a huge difference. On top of that, to add a family on medical insurance on one paycheck could potentially be up to $300-$400 per check (depending on size of family). Now, if you have a minimum wage job, then you are pretty much ONLY paying for the health insurance and nothing else. If you are lucky enough to make more than min. wage those costs still do not help you get a head. Back to my issue with Obamacare. The fact that he made it mandatory and no longer the option of the individual. Then, if you don’t have insurance, like you stated, you get penalized at tax time. More money taken away. What about those that don’t have a job? Yes, you have Obamacare but there are some plans that still have to be paid for. If you don’t have money coming in, then how can you pay for something like this? I would imagine at that point any money you make will go to putting clothes on children’s backs or food in their bellies. I feel health insurance should be like many other things and should be left up to the individual to decide if they are going to get it or not. If Trump is able to revise the whole thing to work better for the people, then I will support it being “mandatory”, but until then I will still not agree with it.

I know when Obamacare went into effect my fiance’s insurance premium jumped through the roof. It takes almost 15% of his weekly pay and it forced the small family owned company he works for to change their benefits so his co-pay for medical visits went from $35 to $70. I am hard pressed to see how that system creates affordable health care for the average American worker. He has even done the math and it would be cheaper for him to take the tax hit each year than have health insurance which is just sad. I think the whole Obamacare legislation is flawed. It was thrown together has been a political eyesore and is the perfect representation of how our government can take a system plagued with issues and make it exponentially worse. I agree with President Trump’s plan to repeal the flawed healthcare program and I know he will be more in tune with what will work best for the health and insurance industries and the wallets of those with work based insurance policies.

I can appreciate this entry as it is definitely a controversial one. I have read the debate accordingly and it reminds of the age old question. Which came first the chicken or the egg. I guess the main question that comes to mind is what will be the strategy for those during ill persons during the appeal process?Unfortunately, it seems as though quality of life does not become a priority. Illness does not place itself on hold while plans are worked out. No matter who has the better or worse plan.